mountain villages, mural village

Posted on November 26, 2024 by Mary C

Ihwa-dong is a neighbourhood, built on a hill (Mount Naksan) in Seoul. Some of the houses are literally built into the city walls. Because of its hilly nature, it is often referred to as a mountain village. In 2006 as a cultural project there was an effort to transform this relatively poor section of the city into an artistic landmark by adding public art – especially murals. Seventy artists were involved. The area became a tourist destination. It was also saved from demolition and redevelopment.

In 2016 the residents petitioned to have the art removed as they did not like the increase in tourist traffic. The local government didn’t do anything so some of the residents painted over a few of the more popular murals. There are also reports of murals being painted over in 2023 … or residents adding their own art

painting on a wall, I love seoul where the love is a red heart

below: A woman walks down (very down!) a street in Ihwa-dong

below: A small neighbourhood behind a fence. Bright red shutters.

a small street art mural on the front of a house, image is a collection of houses, streets, and fences

below: Girl with a red balloon at number 69.

street art painting, a girl in black stencil, holds the string of a red balloon

below: Little puppy dogs and a friendly kitten by the hedge

street art mural, green background like grass or a leafy hedge, 3 little dogs and a cat. one of the dogs has a long stem rose between its teeth

below: Toucan and monkeys. The black car is blocking the shiny green car but he doesn’t seem to mind.

mural on a wall, three black and white monkeys, and a large toucan with a bright beak. a car is parked in front of the mural and is blocking part of it. Also in mural, a man is getting out of a car

below: Watching time, but it’s always ten past two; watching each other but seeing nothing.

two street art paintings in black and white, on the right is an analogue clock with hands pointing to time that is 2:10. on the left are two men with binoculars, looking at each other up closely so that the ends of the binoculars touch

below: Motorcycle parcel delivery (although on closer inspection, it might be a trailer load of cardboard for recycling)

street art mural, a man in a low back motorcycle that is pulling a trailer loaded with parcels

below: A great place to see views of Seoul…. but there are a lot of stairs!

below: Up a narrow street (no not street, just stairs), more paintings on the walls

below: Doorway conversation

below: Square head sitting with a woman with very, very long red hair

below: Fish by the door of the shop

… fish on the wall

orange and white carp painted on blue wall

… and fish kissing teapots.

a real teapot hangs beside a painting of a fish that looks like the fish is going to kiss the teapot

below: A tired old faded bear sits by the road

a very large stuffed teddy bear is sitting in a rocking chair on the sidewalk beside a house. bear is weathered and faded.

below: Looking down to the layer below where people are sitting outside Espresso Bar Odeoksae Coffee. They are joined by a few silent people on the walls. To the left, two camels have wandered into the scene.

people sitting outside coffee shop, street art on walls of odeoksae coffee shop

below: Rainbow stripes and some silhouette figures that look they belong in Alice in Wonderland – a trumpet blowing rabbit and the queen of hearts.

wall is painted in rainbow stripes in the front, and in pale blue in the back. on the back are three figures in black silhouette with red hearts

below: Slouching past with his mind on other things far away….

mural of a young man walking past a brick building

below: Yellow shirts and flowers

mural on a wall of a man in yellow shirt and black pants, and sandals, standing there

below: This is Son Heung-min who is the captain of the Tottenham Hotspurs as well the South Korea national team.

street art painting of a soccer, football, player, with words super son number 7, white jersey,

below: Off to the shops with her bright red purse and blue shopping bag

street art painting on a wall, woman in blue skirt, carrying red purse, and pulling blue shopping cart

below: People on the boat, fish swimming under it.

Photos taken September 2024

football and the ‘cult’ of Maradona

Posted on May 7, 2024 by Mary C

References to Diego Maradona are everywhere in Naples! Maradona (1960-2020) was a football hero to many. He joined Napoli’s football team (Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, or SSC Napoli) in 1984 and took a lacklustre team and made them winners. During the seven years that Maradona led the Naples team they won two Series A titles – the first southern Italian team to do so. His influence on Naples lives on.

below: This forty foot high mural is the center of all things Maradona. There are direction signs all over the old part of the city (Quartieri Spagnoli) showing the way to this small square. If you visit, expect to find it full of fans!

diego maradona themed street art in quatieri spagnoli in naples napoli,

Also, expect to find all kinds of tributes to Napoli’s favorite footballer all over the city.

below: Maradona is not the only player celebrated here. This mural is a tribute to Dries Mertens, “il miglior goleador” [= the best goal scorer] and “148 gol, 9 anni, di storia amore”

diers mertens, football player, themed street art in quatieri spagnoli in naples napoli,

diego maradona themed street art in quatieri spagnoli in naples napoli, maradona dressed as a bishop with staff and funny hat, bishops mitre

diego maradona themed street art in quatieri spagnoli in naples napoli, many life sized football players on a wall

below: Maradona as king, artwork by Mr. Pencil

below: Number 9 is not Maradona. The little band of yellow hair on top gives it away as Victor Osimhen, originally from Nigeria.

below: Nicely placed women beside Franco Martinez’s portrait of Maradona.

below: Another portrait of Naples most famous #10, this one by Yessica Garcia.

Photos taken February 2024

167B street Lecce

Posted on February 27, 2024 by Mary C

This blog post is a sample of the murals that I found while visiting a section in northeast Lecce around three streets – Via Raguso, Via Novara, and Via Agrigento

below: Dimitris Trimintzios aka Taxis painted this image of a woman harvesting what appear to be olives. Lecce is in the province of Apulia where olive groves dominate parts of the landscape; about 40% of Italy’s olive oil is produced in Apulia.

mural by Taxis of a young woman holding a basket full of ripe olives, olive trees in the background

167B Street is a group that promotes art and community – to improve the look of neighbourhoods and to promote interactions between the residents. It is named after the multi-ethnic residential area in Lecce Italy where many of the murals have been painted, Neighbourhood 167 is a collection of apartment buildings that was built in the late 70’s to meet the demands for social housing at the time. It is also the neighbourhood where these photos were taken

below: Wormbook by Artez,

below: “Mamma perdono” by Sabotaje al Montaje – here a fisherman catches plastic caps instead of fish, a comment on water pollution.

below: Two large murals on adjacent buildings, both painted by Chekos.

two murals, both on the ends of an apartment building, both painted by Chekos

below: It’s their world – Children who are friends in real life too, Andrea and Fatou.

mural of two young boys hugging, with a large globe of the Earth, one boy is white and the other is black

below: This mural is a tribute to two football players, Michele Lorusso and Ciro Pezzella,
who played in Lecce in the 1970s and 1980s. Both died in a car accident in December 1983.

below: Two Great Spotted Woodpeckers painted by a pair of Dutch artists, Karski (aka Roy Valk) and Beyond (aka Roelof Schierbeek) These birds are known for creating the perfect home and environment and for defending their territory.

below: Wish by Millo (Millo also has a mural in the nearby town of Monopoli that I included in a previous blot post – Monopoli’s Millo). Here, the couple are tied down and tied to each other by red strings attached to their fingers. Are they wishing for travel (airplanes)? housing? dreams? each other?

below: The Italian words, “L’amore non è amato” translate to Love is not Loved, a quote that is attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi. The artist, Igor Palminteri, says on his instagram page, “I dedicate this wall to all residents of the 167 neighbourhood in Lecce.
Let’s rise up, overcome all prejudice and open new paths to self-determination.”

bottom of Igor Palminteri mural showing just the girl's feet in blue and white sandals, also the tops of three cars that are parked beside the building

And last, there is a lowrise building in the neighbourhood that has been fully decorated by a team of artists – Chekos (aka Francesco Ferreri), Gabriele Quarta, Ania Kitlas, and Simon De Filippi. The murals were created from ideas provided by a Lecce City project called “Libri per la pelle – interventi artistici di arte urbana” (generally translates to Books for the Skin, interventions in urban art). Ferreri and Kitlas are the artists that founded 167B Street.

mural on a wall, collage of images, with lots of dominant diagonal stripes in black and white

portrait of a woman, and other images in mural

Photos taken February 2024

downtown heroes and a chicken too

Posted on January 4, 2024 by Mary C

Seen in Tampa

below: A mural by Audrey Jennifer and Matt Kress

downtown Tampa street with mural by Matt Kress and Audrey Jennifer of Ray Charles in a purple bowtie and quarterback Tom Brady in his Buccaneers uniform, number 12

below: This mural was painted in time for Super Bowl LV which was held in Tampa, and featured a Tampa team in the game. Sport and music combined with a star from each – Ray Charles on the left.

below: And on the right, Number 12 for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, quarterback Tom Brady.

below: He even wore a mask for Covid! This portrait of Tom Brady was painted by Kyle Holbrook.

below: Tampa Bay also has a hockey team!, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Number 45 for the Buccaneers is linebacker Devin White. This “Champa Bay” mural was a collaboration between Kyle Holbrook and Ania Amador.

mural with Tampa Bay shoreline, water, as well as a football player and a hockey player

below: “All for Love!” says the rooster (chicken?) on the side of Branscomb Hall at The Portico (part of Hyde Park United Methodist Church) although the title of the mural is actually “For the Love of THIS City”. It was painted by Michelle Sawyer and Tony Krol who work together under the name Illsol.

“For the Love of THIS City”. It was painted by Michelle Sawyer and Tony Krol who work as Illsol. A chicken, two alligators, a heron, some local flowers, and some other Tampa symbols,

below: It features local wildlife living in harmony… like alligators and herons and … chickens? Apparently Ybor City chickens are famous?! This one looks a little grouchy.

close up of chicken and alligator and heron and other wildlife in Illsol mural at The Portico, Hyde Park Methodist church

Photos taken April 2022

Casablanca, at Socrate et Ali Abderrazak

Posted on November 3, 2019 by Mary C

As you walk toward the intersection of Blvd Socrate and Blvd Ali Abderrazak the large murals there come into view.
a man walks along a wide sidewalk, walking towards buildings with large colourful murals

3 large murals at a Casablanca intersection, one in front is woman with many layered face

below: The mural in front is “Facing Forward” and it was painted by Moroccan artist Majid El Bahar; it was part of Sbagha Bagha, an annual street art festival in Casablanca.

large mural of womens faces in different horizontal stripes close up of eye in mural with satelite dishes on the building looking up at large mural from the bottom, womens faces,

The two murals behind the women were painted for Casamouja 2019. This is an annual “urban art wave” and murals in 5 locations were/are part of this year’s event (between 20 Sept and 25 Nov). The first location was at this intersection where there were 4 large murals. Casamouja is a public programme started in 2016 for the promotion of street art in various districts of Casablanca.

In the middle is a mural of a man falling past a white, pink, and red background that was painted by OLDR

a large vertical mural by oldr of a man falling backwards past pink and white clouds. Falling with him is a blue dog, a car, and some logs